Gradually
by The Queen of Valencia Torgue
Summary: It hadn't seemed to have happened gradually. But suddenly, Astrid realizes that Hiccup is taller than her. How will she react? Hiccstrid oneshot.


**It's Hiccstrid fluff, what more can I say? Enjoy.**

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It didn't happen gradually.

At least, it didn't seem to.

She noticed he was relapsing back to some of his clumsier ways. Just as his footwork had finally started to be getting somewhere, he was suddenly stumbling around like a baby gronkle again.

"Sorry," he told her as she hauled him back to his feet. He shrugged. "I'm such a klutz sometimes."

Looking down at his sincere expression, she sighed. "Let's try again."

And so they did.

A few weeks later, she noticed he was limping as they dismounted from a flight around the island. She didn't say anything to him about it, not wanting to seem like she was worried about him, but resolved to keep a closer eye on him in the next few days. To her surprise, he showed up to training with a new prosthetic the next day, limp cured. No one else seemed to notice, and he didn't say anything, so she didn't draw attention to it.

But she wondered.

And then he missed their morning flight.

His father directed her up to his room when she came knocking, and she marched up the stairs prepared to haul his skinny behind out of bed and make him apologize. But upon entering his room and finding him still dreaming, she suddenly realized that she had never quite grasped just how cute he was when he was asleep. Deciding it would be a shame to disrupt such an adorable thing, she sat and watched him sleep instead, slipping out of the room when he began to stir.

She didn't mention the incident to him, but instead just remarked to him later how lonely her flight had been that morning.

He didn't skip again.

Cookouts were a favorite pastime of the teens. They would gather on a tower with whatever food they could find, and then spend the evening roasting it and telling stories. He had never been overly active in these activities, though after the Red Death incident, he had become more vocal in the story telling aspect. Recently however, he had been showing up with more food than almost everyone else, and polishing it off in one sitting.

"Where does it all go?" one of the twins remarked, watching him eat.

She was wondering that herself. He had filled out a bit over the years, but still remained ever the short skinny boy who had kidnapped/made her fall in love on that dragon ride when they were fifteen. But suddenly, he couldn't seem to get enough to eat, and it didn't seem to be making much of a difference on him.

"Are you going to finish that?" he asked her.

She handed him her chicken leg.

The Revel. It was the one time of the year that she wore a dress without any kind of armor. It was also the only time of the year that there would be teens from other tribes present to see her in such a state. Understandably, she was never very pleased with the situation.

Berk was now crawling with hormone-crazed teens. There were boys trying to impress girls without making their fathers/brothers/uncles mad, girls flirting and gossiping and trying not to tear their dresses while arm-wrestling, and married elders watching the whole spectacle with great amusement, remembering what it was like to be young.

She was walking home from the dragon academy when she overheard what a group of younger girls from another tribe were talking about.

"So much taller, and those green eyes!"

She slowed a little. She was a sucker for green eyes.

"I mean seriously? Last year he was a runt, and now he's the tallest!"

She racked her brain, trying to remember all of the teens who normally came to this event. Which green-eyed boy had been short last year, and was now the tallest of his bunch?

"And those muscles!" sighed another of the girls as they walked off.

She drew a blank. No one she could think of had grown muscles, become taller, and developed into the older-guy heart throb for the younger teen girls since last year. She moved on.

That night, the mead hall was cleared of the tables for the revel to take place. The traveling bard sang songs, and some of the tribe's musicians played some jaunty tunes for dancing.

She had never had too much interest in the revel, and had often spent years past arm-wrestling boys who had asked her to dance in the corner—and winning. This year though, the festivities held her attention a little more. She was looking for a boy who had experienced a growth spurt. She scanned the crowd, determined to find him, but was having little success.

"Looking for someone?"

She jumped, but it was just him. He sat next to her on the bench, settling close enough that their arms were touching.

"Not really."

"Well then." He grinned at her. "Want to dance, milady?"

She smiled at him. "Sure."

He stood and took her hand, and together they ventured onto the dance floor. The bard was singing a slow, mournful ballad, and the pace of the dance matched. Slowly they spun, their feet spinning complicated patterns on the floor of the hall. Not unlike sword fighting, she thought.

As he drew her in for a step, she caught sight of the younger girls from earlier, staring at her, pointing, and whispering to each other with jealous expressions.

"Astrid, is something wrong?" Hiccup asked her, looking down at her with his gorgeous green eyes.

The world went a little lopsided then. Astrid was suddenly acutely aware of the arms that held her, muscular from the many hours spent dragon-riding and working in the forge, the beautiful emerald-green of the eyes that met hers, the exact shade of the moss on the rocks of the forest in the summer, and the height of the man who was no longer a boy, and no longer shorter than she was.

"You're taller than I am!" she gasped.

He looked surprised, and then his expression turned thoughtful. "Huh. I guess I am. About time!" he smiled.

Astrid was still slightly in shock. Hiccup, her dorky boyfriend, was a teenage heart-throb to younger girls from neighboring tribes. When had that happened?

It hadn't seemed to have taken place gradually. But, Astrid thought, dancing with her now-taller-than-her boyfriend, having things go gradually is often over-rated.

And so, to the chagrin of the watching girls, she kissed him. And it wasn't at all gradual.

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**There. Hope you liked it! I do have a few more HTTYD oneshots... All very Hiccstrid-y, I assure you. Favorite this, drop a review if you want, and then go check them out. Thanks for reading! -Queen**


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